As the EU struggles with serious internal problems and the future architecture of the Eurozone, such steps may seem small. South East Europe also faces a myriad of serious crises – from a war on Turkey's doorstep in Syria to record unemployment in the Western Balkans.

And yet these initiatives send a powerful message. The basic bargain which has guided EU policy towards the rest of the continent ever since the Berlin wall came down is still in place: the promise of access to the EU of goods, people and countries in return for reforms.

Kosovo is still the only country in the Balkans whose citizens require a visa to enter the EU. But now the ball is in the court of the Kosovo leadership to change this; at the same time the European Commission must ensure that the process is both strict and fair (see ESI comparative analysis of the Kosovo visa roadmap: Moving the Goalposts?). For Kosovo June 2012 brings the promise of a sea change. The end of the international protectorate in Pristina (also formally decided this July) is giving way to reinforced EU conditionality.

One week after Kosovo received its roadmap, the EU and Turkey took the first concrete step towards a visa liberalisation process for Turkey: EU member states formally invited the European Commission to launch the process, and the Commission and Turkey initialled a readmission agreement in Brussels. With this accomplished, later this autumn the European Commission is expected to present Turkey with an action plan on visa liberalisation, which will list the conditions that Turkey will have to meet in order to qualify for visa-free travel.

"Our Lady of the Rocks" island in the bay of Kotor, Montenegro.
Photo: flickr/scottmliddell

The start of accession talks with Montenegro is not only a major step for the small country, but the entire region. The EU's decision, taken in the midst of a major European crisis, sends a clear signal that progress towards membership remains possible. Against the backdrop of Greece's continued obstruction of accession talks with Macedonia, the stalemate in negotiations with Turkey, and previous indications by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy that enlargement would be put on hold after Croatia joins, the green light for talks with Montenegro is a badly needed signal that progress is rewarded and that the EU perspective is real. (See here for more on Montenegro's path towards the EU).

Presenting on Azerbaijan in the House of Commons in June 2012: MP Paul Flynn, former political prisoner and writer Emin Milli and ESI's Gerald Knaus

The international debate on human rights in Azerbaijan continued in June, both in the media and – more importantly – in Strasbourg. There, on 26 June 2012, the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted on two draft resolutions written by special rapporteur Christoph Strässer, a Social Democrat member of the Bundestag.

The first draft resolution gives a definition of what is a political prisoner for future use by PACE. The second warns that the issue of political prisoners remains unresolved in Azerbaijan. It calls on Azerbaijan to release or retry 89 alleged political prisoners.

Azerbaijani authorities had refused Strasser entry to the country for his mission for three years. They have also attempted to discredit his work.

Both documents were adopted by very narrow margins (26 vs 22 and 25 vs 23 votes). The original text was also watered down: all criticism of Azerbaijan's refusal to cooperate with the rapporteur was eliminated! All this highlights the divisions in PACE detailed in ESI's report "Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan Silenced the Council of Europe" (May 2012).

This vote is only the first step in reestablishing PACE's credibility on Azerbaijan. The draft resolutions will be voted on in the plenary of PACE in October 2012. ESI will publish the second part of its report as the debate will certainly heat up.